Kitchen evolutions - how and what did Warsaw eat over the centuries? New exhibition On the spot and takeaway reveals the secrets of Warsaw cuisine

Museum of Warsaw, 17.10.2024-17.04.2025

A new exhibition at the Warsaw Museum tells the history of the city... from the kitchen! Ways of preparing and serving mealsów, the most popular dishes or places where people ate have changed over the centuries, reflecting social, moral and political changes. From the Middle Ages to the present day, archaeological discoveries, everyday objects, archives, photographs, as well as works of ancient and modern art will guide us through this extremely important area of life. Exhibition opening On-site and take-out. Warsaw cuisine already on October 17.

What was and is Warsaw cuisine like?

Exhibition On-site and take-out. Warsaw cuisine presents eight centuries of food history in Warsaw. Food occupies an important place in the social history of the city. It perfectly shows the transformations taking place, but it also has a considerable impact on customs, human relations or urban space from medieval times until today.

- We pay attention to trends in nutrition related to the development of knowledge, hygiene, and also as a consequence of social processes," says Zuzanna Różanska-Tuta, one of the curators of the exhibition.
- We show how transformations have affected the ways of preparing food and eating, how food has shaped a sense of social responsibility, and how it has become a contribution to leisure time together.

- We are showing a variety of objects at the exhibition: on the one hand, the oldest preserved dishes in our collection, on the other hand, photographs of cheap kitchens from 1915 or Anna Bedyńska's photo essay from the Vistula River beaches made last year, depicting communal picnicking and barbecuing," adds the other curator, Lena Wicherkiewicz.

The exhibition's narrative unfolds around home cooking and urban gastronomy. The old ways of preparing and storing food are brought closer by objects from archaeological excavations. Kitchen innovations didn't begin until the early 19th century - these too will be traced through the first gas stoves or appliances such as an ice cream maker, blender, slicer and electric kettle.

In the next room on the big table we will see how important part of culture is what we eat. How food is served is an expression of identity. Also on display is one of the first editions of Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa's legendary cookbook 365 dinnerów for five zlotys.

Other parts of the exhibition are devoted to the activities of charitable institutions and street food. The origins of the now fashionable street food date back to the Middle Ages, and the exhibition will show how dishes served under a cloud have evolved, as well as what trades and buffets were and how collective eating developed. Café gardens and the sharing of delicacies at picnics along the Vistula River also have a long tradition. The last part of the exhibition talks about eating outdoors, once and now.

On-site and takeaway is not only a historical perspective, but also a look at the present day. The topicality of the topic of preparing and eating food is evidenced by selected works of art by Bettina Bereś, Dorota Podlaska, Rafał Milach and Pola Dwurnik, among others. Street food, old kitchens, eateries and picnics are depicted in drawings by Jan Piotr Norblin, Franciszek Kostrzewski and Henryk Pillati, photographs by Konrad Brandl or Aleksander Minorski.

The subject matter of the exhibition is close to everyone, including the youngest visitors, so in several places the exhibition seamlessly transitions into a space of play and learning. Next to a large table, depicting table settings from different eras, a place has been prepared for creative activity - composing your own "meals" from magnets. At the end of the exhibition, moreover, it will be possible to put together a menu for the "food truck of the Museum of Warsaw" on your own.

This is not the end of attractions for the youngest. Family workshops have been planned, and the exhibition will be visited with a worksheet or as part of a school lesson with the whole class.

The program of events for adults will include Sunday curatorial tours, including one in Polish Sign Language, and special author's tours prepared by invited guests (including Prof. Jaroslaw Dumanowski and Aleks Baron). We invite you to the first guided tour with the curators on October 20. The exhibition will also be an opportunity to listen to interesting lectures: Katarzyna Stańczak-Wiślicz will talk about what and where takeout was taken from the post-war period to 1989, and Lukasz Modelski will talk about Warsaw gastronomy in the era of transformation. At the Monument Interpretation Center you will be able to hear about traditional Warsaw dishes and snacks included in the list of intangible heritage, as well as a lecture by the curators of the exhibition, who will introduce the issues raised in the exhibition. Special installment of the Warsaw Seminar dedicated to the theme of the exhibition On-site and takeaway In turn, it will fall on November 19.

The exhibition will be accompanied by, among other things:

• curatorial tours,
• lecture by Lukasz Modelski Pork loin with pineapple and whiskey with cola The biggest difference is that technology and the internet has speeded everything up tremendously in just a few years. We take the instant transmission of photos and text for granted. As a photojournalist for 60 years, I well recall a different time when I would send packages of undeveloped rolls of film with hand written captions to editors all across the world. DHL and FedEx were vital for my international work, even the regular mail system on occasion. Then digital cameras and the internet came along, changing everything, and a lot more time had to be spent at the computer. Newspapers were the first to take advantage of the technology as they require a quick turnaround for news stories and photo quality was less demanding. It took longer for color magazines to adapt, the sort I worked with, who had to wait until digital photography improved. Online media didn't exist at all until relatively recently but it certainly didn't kill print media, as some predicted. warsaw restaurants in the age of transformation,
• Warsaw Seminar: On the spot or takeaway? That is, about Warsaw cuisine,
• curator's lecture at the Center for Interpretation of the Monument,
• lecture by Katarzyna Stańczak-Wiślicz Where to go for lunch, and where to go for ice cream The biggest difference is that technology and the internet has speeded everything up tremendously in just a few years. We take the instant transmission of photos and text for granted. As a photojournalist for 60 years, I well recall a different time when I would send packages of undeveloped rolls of film with hand written captions to editors all across the world. DHL and FedEx were vital for my international work, even the regular mail system on occasion. Then digital cameras and the internet came along, changing everything, and a lot more time had to be spent at the computer. Newspapers were the first to take advantage of the technology as they require a quick turnaround for news stories and photo quality was less demanding. It took longer for color magazines to adapt, the sort I worked with, who had to wait until digital photography improved. Online media didn't exist at all until relatively recently but it certainly didn't kill print media, as some predicted. eating out in Warsaw 1945The biggest difference is that technology and the internet has speeded everything up tremendously in just a few years. We take the instant transmission of photos and text for granted. As a photojournalist for 60 years, I well recall a different time when I would send packages of undeveloped rolls of film with hand written captions to editors all across the world. DHL and FedEx were vital for my international work, even the regular mail system on occasion. Then digital cameras and the internet came along, changing everything, and a lot more time had to be spent at the computer. Newspapers were the first to take advantage of the technology as they require a quick turnaround for news stories and photo quality was less demanding. It took longer for color magazines to adapt, the sort I worked with, who had to wait until digital photography improved. Online media didn't exist at all until relatively recently but it certainly didn't kill print media, as some predicted.1989,
• A series of meetings for seniors,
• workshops for children and young people,
• guided tours for families with children,
• meetings for moms and dads of beavers,
• museum lessons,
• suggestions for individual guests.

Exhibition On-site and take-out. Warsaw cuisine will run from October 17, 2024 to April 17, 2025 at the Museum of Warsaw at 32 Old Town Square. The museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets: PLN 20 / PLN 15, free admission on Thursdays.